I don't know where to put this, but I am tired of all the racist shiitake and trying to mask it as pro American and jobs and whatever the hell else. I know exactly what you mean when you say "illegal" and use it as a noun or an adjective to describe a person. FU.

Okay, I've calmed down a tiny bit, at least enough to give some context. My patient's dad was complaining about a referral to another office and sent an email to our office telling us how bad this provider's office was and how he "would NOT recommend them to anyone, unless it's an illegal." Ugh! All of our employees, including myself, are Hispanic, btw. Anyway, it's just one thing piled on top of the other, especially everything from Arizona which is where I am from (but not currently).

I know the feeling, my fellow Arizonan. At least the latino-phobia (?) seems to be on the way out. You don't hear the younger generations shaking their fist about them dern illegals. After all, most of us grew up with and around latin-american immigrants. Some legal, others not so much. And did you see downtown PHX during the SB1070 protests? Plenty of white in those crowds.

_________________Half the lies I tell are not true."luckily us vegans dont go into cardiac arrest...but we do go into food comas" - Adam Crisis

Yepp, and I hate that some people are defined by their immigration status or country of origin. fork that, people are so much more than that.

_________________"...anarchists only want to burn cars and punch cops."- nickvicious"We'll be eating our own words 30 years from now when we're demanding our legislators outlaw aerosol-based cyber dildo-wielding death holograms."- Brian

_________________If you spit on my food I will blow your forking head off, you filthy shitdog. - MumblesDon't you know that vegan meat is the gateway drug to chicken addiction? Because GMO and trans-fats. - kaerlighed

I would love a general thread about all the racist stuff that challenges us every day, but I think reading it would be overwhelming. There is such a double think about race - its like rape culture - you have to pretend that it doesn't exist and that it doesn't affect anything, but it underpins everything and it is constantly biting you in the asparagus.

Like this very subtle article by the NYT :Blacks Miss Out As Jobs Rebound in NYC. Hear that minority job seekers? You are missing out! Its not at all that employers are choosing to go with white men over you, nosireebob Cracker Patriarch. Its that you people don't pick the right types of jobs.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

See guys, this is who you should really be afraid of. Quiet, polite, unsuspecting white Canadians, sneaking over and blending in. It's quiet now, but when their numbers swell, and they rise up and overthrow our government and we all have to wear toques, you bleeding heart liberals will be SORRY.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

As soon as I wake up from the nap I clearly desperately need, someone is getting a new subnick.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

See guys, this is who you should really be afraid of. Quiet, polite, unsuspecting white Canadians, sneaking over and blending in. It's quiet now, but when their numbers swell, and they rise up and overthrow our government and we all have to wear toques, you bleeding heart liberals will be SORRY.

That's the thing. So many people I encountered (and still do encounter) who rail about the immigration "problem" use the rehetoric of "illegals" stealing our jobs. However, when confronted with the fact that they're talking to an english-speaking, college educated illegal, they would ALWAYS say, "well, not people like YOU, of course." Really? Because it seems to me that if you're really worried about jobs being stolen, I am EXACTLY the kind of "illegal" who's going to steal them, because I'm the kind that has no language barrier to overcome and a law degree.

_________________If you spit on my food I will blow your forking head off, you filthy shitdog. - MumblesDon't you know that vegan meat is the gateway drug to chicken addiction? Because GMO and trans-fats. - kaerlighed

What I don't get is how Mexicans are taking jobs, but at the same time, are too lazy.

Which is it, Cracker von Patriarchs?!

This is the same thing I've been wondering! They're here to mooch off our [wonderful?] system and take all of our [amazing?] jobs!

_________________"...anarchists only want to burn cars and punch cops."- nickvicious"We'll be eating our own words 30 years from now when we're demanding our legislators outlaw aerosol-based cyber dildo-wielding death holograms."- Brian

What is really amazing is working for someone who hates immigrants and labor unions at the same time.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

My mom is very anti-Mexican/Latin culture in general. It drives me nuts... I get a bit of fiendish delight out of the fact that my sister's boyfriend is Honduran, and they have provided her with a grandson.

I know we had this discussion previously but my Mexican-American family in California utilizes the term illegal but not as a derogatory term. Growing up in Southern California, I've known many immigrants of varying statuses and I've always considered 'illegal immigrant' to be a legal term (other terms are usually used to be 'not so nice' about latino immigrants). I don't know if the US is unique in that we seem to have built a system where we utilize workers without providing them an easy way to obtain citizenship and then create a second class citizen. If it were up to me, we'd be more lenient about green cards and granting citizenship. I'd prefer that we create a system where we don't depend on workers that are here in the US illegally but give them the proper means to be here legally.

And as far as the stealing jobs thing, that goes back as far as I remember and it will probably continue to go on.

_________________You are all a disgrace to vegans. Go f*ck yourselves, especially linanil.

I know we had this discussion previously but my Mexican-American family in California utilizes the term illegal but not as a derogatory term. Growing up in Southern California, I've known many immigrants of varying statuses and I've always considered 'illegal immigrant' to be a legal term (other terms are usually used to be 'not so nice' about latino immigrants). I don't know if the US is unique in that we seem to have built a system where we utilize workers without providing them an easy way to obtain citizenship and then create a second class citizen. If it were up to me, we'd be more lenient about green cards and granting citizenship. I'd prefer that we create a system where we don't depend on workers that are here in the US illegally but give them the proper means to be here legally.

And as far as the stealing jobs thing, that goes back as far as I remember and it will probably continue to go on.

I was shocked to learn a while ago that during the Great Depression, even Mexican-American families who were here very legally, had citizenship and were even born here were deported to Mexico to save jobs for the "real" Americans. This does go way back!

_________________I was really surprised the first time I saw a penis. After those banana tutorials, I was expecting something so different. -Tofulish

I was shocked to learn a while ago that during the Great Depression, even Mexican-American families who were here very legally, had citizenship and were even born here were deported to Mexico to save jobs for the "real" Americans. This does go way back!

I don't think any of my family was subject to it. On my Mother's mother side of the family, they had established themselves in California in the 1800s and my grandmother has mentioned that the great depression didn't affect them much because they were able to farm for themselves and trade food for goods/other foods. They were also well blended in with the native american population so how do you deport someone if they are part native american/part mexican descent?

On my Mother's father side of the family, they came to California in the early 1900s. Although my mother also mentions that her great grandfather was a migrant farm worker who actually had 2 families. One in Mexico and one in California. We were descendants of the California family. Apparently it wasn't unheard of for some farm workers who traveled to and from Mexico to end up having two wives, one in each country. The border was fairly open until the mid-20th century so farm workers were even more fluid than they are now.

_________________You are all a disgrace to vegans. Go f*ck yourselves, especially linanil.

well Mexicans are probably more mixed with the native populations than the average American but I don't know that for sure. There are plenty of natives in Mexico that still maintain their own cultures and languages, of which Spanish may not be one.

I know from my own ancestry that in California, the native americans and mexicans mixed somewhat and were welcomed into the native american populations through marriage. I don't know the facts and figures to say whether that was highly common or not or true throughout California during its days as part of Mexico. As part of the US, both were considered 'others' and neither treated very well historically.

Of course if you try to use a logic that they belong here more than colonists but don't think that argument will work.

_________________You are all a disgrace to vegans. Go f*ck yourselves, especially linanil.

I know we had this discussion previously but my Mexican-American family in California utilizes the term illegal but not as a derogatory term. Growing up in Southern California, I've known many immigrants of varying statuses and I've always considered 'illegal immigrant' to be a legal term (other terms are usually used to be 'not so nice' about latino immigrants).

I guess its really the intent of how you say the word.

If you are using it matter of factly as a legal term, fine, but if you tack it onto some racist bullshiitake, then its racist bullshiitake.

_________________Evolved a vascular system, so I went from bryophyte to lycophyte.

well Mexicans are probably more mixed with the native populations than the average American but I don't know that for sure. There are plenty of natives in Mexico that still maintain their own cultures and languages, of which Spanish may not be one.

.....

Of course if you try to use a logic that they belong here more than colonists but don't think that argument will work.

There is a humorous moment on a early South Park episode that points this out this odd double standard. Characters played by Cheech and Chong are believed to be "Native American" by most of the townsfolk, so the primarily white town ends up accepting and taking a great deal of silly advice from them. Eventually the characters tell everyone they are mexican, to which the townsfolk react with a great deal of horror.

Mexicans are generally a very mixed people, and much of that is from the native people of the Americas, whether its Maya or Hopi. It's why I have always hated the term "invaders" that people use to describe immigrants, it really digs into my skin more than any other term.

I see a lot of racism against Muslim people and those from Middle Eastern and Asian countries. They're demonized in our media and sadly people can be easily led even though we relies on those from other countries (including those from the Middle East and Asia) to make up the numbers of our doctors and surgeons and especially our dentists.

A couple of years back a documentary covered the influx of Polish workers into the UK. They followed some men who were working 10 hours a day picking vegetables (transport to and from work, food and water while they working, an OK hourly wage) and then the crew approached some 20-something English men at the benefits office to tell them about the jobs available alongside the Polish workers. The response was "I'd rather stay on benefits." The BNP and similar groups promote the concept of 'protecting British jobs for British people', but then won't 'lower themselves' (or get the necessary education) to doing the jobs that workers from other countries fulfill.